FSM presents two classic WWII adventure scores from Silver Age greats in complete form: The Bridge at Remagen (1969) by Elmer Bernstein and The Train (1964) by Maurice Jarre.

The Bridge at Remagen was a large-scale dramatization of efforts to control the crucial Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine in Remagen, Germany, during the closing days of WWII. George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn play participants on both sides of the conflict. The film was produced by acclaimed documentarian David L. Wolper, and blended traditional combat scenes with a humanistic look at the costs of war.

Elmer Bernstein's score to The Bridge at Remagen—making its premiere album release—has long been desired by fans of the composer and the genre. It features a majestic, stirring main title theme, one of Bernstein's best, the kind of piece that turns an average cinemagoer into a film music buff. Despite the score's brevity—less than a half-hour of music for a two-hour film—it features thrilling large-scale moments as well intimate, humanistic cues recalling, of all things, Bernstein's mastery of writing music for children.

The Train was John Frankenheimer's first large-scale action film and is today regarded as the last great black-and-white action-adventure. Burt Lancaster turns in a dynamic, athletic performance as a French railway inspector (and resistance operative) who leads an effort to stop a train full of classic French art from reaching Germany during the Nazi withdrawal from France. The film offers an ingenious chess match of manipulation between Lancaster and a cultured yet obsessed Nazi colonel (Paul Scofield) and a significant intellectual dimension, weighing the costs of art vs. human life.

Maurice Jarre's pulsating music for The Train drives the gritty physical action. Whereas Bernard Herrmann's "black and white" score for Psycho features solely strings, Jarre turns the "black and white" concept on its head to provide nothing but color. He omits strings from his orchestra, leaving woodwinds, percussion, brass and accordion, turning the train into a living, breathing creature that is equated with Lancaster in unstoppable power. Jarre's percussive, snarling textures provide action and tension, while his distinctive melodies put a uniquely French heart into the patriotic effort to preserve the art.

The Bridge at Remagen is a score long thought to be lost, but Elmer Bernstein kept 1/4" monaural tapes of the recording sessions which have been used for this premiere release—though there is a fair amount of overmodulation (distortion). The Train portion of this CD features the (electronic) stereo album master followed by previously unreleased cues in monaural sound as derived from the film's dubbing stems (as included on the deluxe laserdisc and DVD of the film). Liner notes are by Lukas Kendall.

Elmer Bernstein (1922–2004) had a Hollywood career that lasted over a half a century; invented and reinvented himself as a composer across several genres (jazz, epics, westerns, comedies and adult dramas); and scored more than a few Hollywood classics—The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Escape and Airplane! to name but five. FSM has released a dozen of his scores and counting, but the most popular may be Heavy Metal (1981)—don't be fooled by the title, it's Elmer's "Star Wars." In addition to his prolific work as a composer, Bernstein was a tireless champion of film music as an art form, serving on the boards of several professional organizations and in the 1970s recording his own LP series of classic Hollywood scores, Elmer Bernstein's Film Music Collection, released by FSM as a 12-CD box set. IMDB

Maurice Jarre (1924-2009) launched to the top of the film scoring world with his iconic score for Lawrence of Arabia in 1962—and pretty much stayed there. His unorthodox but powerful symphonic style is most often associated with epics by David Lean (Dr. Zhivago) and others but he was just as masterful with intimate subject matter (The Collector) and synthesizer scores(Witness). FSM has released not only several of his feature film scores, but a CD of his concert music from the 1950s in his native France.IMDB

The thing is the FSM listing shows it in green, which usually denotes a title is still available for sale. Maybe someone needs to update the FSM site color codes to reflect what can and can't be grabbed.

SAE lists 185 titles available from FSM. Which 65 are gone? It seems there are 17 blue used and 38 red OPs. That accounts for 55 titles. If one of the 10 is TBAR/TT, then there are 9 other titles OP which are not currently listed as such on the site.

As far as I can make out these titles are not listed at SAE but are on this site.

Demetrius And The Gladiators Elmer Bernstein Film Music Collection From the Terrace Gerald Fried . . . The Last Run . . . The Liquidator Lord Jim Lust For Life Man From Uncle Vol 3 Moonfleet Raintree County Tom And Jerry Vol 1 Wait Until Dark (hurray for me!) The Wrath Of God

This is just a quickly compiled list which I've had to infer as being OP.

When I click on the "Film Score Monthly" tab under the "Browse" oval on the main Screen Archives page, and then select "View All" under the "Titles per page:" drop-down menu on the subsequent page, I see all of the ones I listed above as part of the list here: http://www1.screenarchives.com/full_list.cfm?category=317

Strange. I selected 'Company Labels' under 'Browse' then selected 'Film Score Monthly' from the list. From that point I sorted alphabetically and that's the list the site drew up. I wonder how and why the blind spots occur?

I'm listing 25 titles per page and The Wrath Of God, for instance, does not show up on the last page, that being page 8.

Edit: Whoops, ditto :) Just as well we cross referenced because when titles start disappearing en masse, there has to be consistency whichever way one checks the site.